The Road Trip--Part Two

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." Romans 8:28 NLT

Hello! Thank you for coming back today. I just wanted to share a couple of the things that I learned on my road trip.

One is that you know, it is easy to get where you are going when you know the road. It takes faith, sometimes leaps of faith, to travel on a road where you have never traveled before. But isn't that what faith is all about? I wasn't necessarily proud of my spiritual behavior yesterday. No, no one else knew the turmoil I was in, except maybe Joey at that one point. But whether the whole world knew or just I, I knew I was spiritually, at first, not trusting the Lord.

I wanted to easy way out. I wanted to go home. I didn't want to be tested. That is my second lesson learned. The importance of surrounding yourself with Godly friends that will not be afraid to push you out of your comfort zone. And you the same. You be that friend that when someone calls you and asks you to help support them to take the easy way out of a growing situation, be gently, godly strong and say, "No, my friend. You need to go forward. I will pray you along."

When I saw Laurie, later that afternoon, I did thank her. I thanked her for not only pushing me, but for also having faith in me, knowing that I could make it. Because of her encouragement, of her thinking I could make it, gave me courage to think so too.

What a feeling of elation when I got to the other side of the detour! I had made it and was back into familiar territory. And I came to the conclusion that detours can be fun when you look at them as adventures. Joey and I saw little towns that we had never seen before--Walnutgrove, Istleton, Twin Cities. We admired different scenery--on one side of the road was the Sacramento River, since we were driving on the top of the dike. We saw houseboats and fishing boats, ski boats. On the other, open fields of alfalfa, corn and wheat. Isn't God's creations beautiful!

You can feel the same type of elation. No, your detours may not be as simple as a road block on Hwy 12, but it is the same outcome. You give it to Jesus, you give Him the control and as they say, leave the driving to Him. He will get you to the other side.

And then, one important last step--thank Him. We don't always remember to thank Jesus for detours, but we should. Because if He didn't take us through them sometimes, I think life would have the tendency to become a big old pothole.